Shattered Glass
by SydneyLouWho
Summary: Some clear sighted mortals find demigods, who tell them all about the things that they see. Gracie wasn't that lucky.
1. When Nobody Believes You

A/N: So, this was a budding idea that I've had for a while. Enjoy, or don't, I don't care.

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><p><em>There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn't there~<em>

Thomas Hardy

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><p>Ms. Williams looked around the playground, watching her Kindergarteners with the precision that she'd practiced for ten years prior to that day. She watched the boys play superheroes on the monkey bars, some girls playing hopscotch, and some other girls played four square. With her years of teaching Kindergarten, came an impeccable sense of hearing.<p>

"Why don't we ask Gracie to play with us?" Kathryn, who was playing four square with her friends, asked.

Olivia made a disgusted face. "But Gracie's so _weird_," she whined, "and I bet she wouldn't even know how to play." Kathryn opened her mouth to object, but closed it again. Everyone knew that Olivia was the ringleader of their group, and it was her way or the highway.

In the many years of teaching that she'd endured with a minimum paycheck, Ms. Williams had never met a kid like Gracie. Gracie, with her dark brown curls and big brown eyes. Gracie, the one who had never so much as spoken to any of the other kids.

Ms. Williams' gaze turned to Gracie, who was sitting in the sand box, digging a hole with her little red shovel. Her red dress was covered in sand, as were her pigtails. The teacher couldn't help feeling sorry for her, since her mom was a workaholic and her dad was stationed in Iraq. But Gracie was more than just quiet, she was demented.

"Miss?" she asked, breaking Ms. Williams' train of thought.

"Yes Gracie?" the teacher replied in the generic baby-voice that she used on all of her students.

Gracie turned her head toward the east and pointed her finger at a spot near the trees. "What's that?"

Ms. Williams followed Gracie's gaze. She blinked. "That's a raccoon, Gracie," she stated, trying to keep from snickering.

Gracie looked at her like she was crazy. "No," she insisted, "It's big and ugly and has one eye. I know what a raccoon looks like."

"You sure have an active imagination," the teacher mused, ruffling Gracie's hair affectionately. She smiled sweetly at the young girl.

Gracie kept watching the raccoon with a grave face. "It's right there," she said, pointing at the raccoon, "why can't you see it?"

Ms. Williams looked again. The raccoon was still there, watching us with curiosity. "I think it's time to go inside, Gracie," Ms. Williams said, still puzzled.

Gracie looked back the entire time that she was being dragged back into the classroom. She watched as the big ugly thing chased and murdered a young girl who had simply been walking by. And Ms. Williams hadn't bothered to look back when Gracie had screamed.

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><p>"Maybe we shouldn't be doing this," Gracie said, her voice shaking. Her best and only friend, Hannah, was beside her, pulling her into the abandoned building without any fear at all.<p>

"Come _on_, Gracie," Hannah whined, "it's an abandoned toy store. Who knows what cool things we could find here." The ten year old Gracie bit her lip nervously. The toy store across the street from her apartment had been abandoned for years, even before her parents were born. She'd never even thought of going in until she met Hannah. Hannah was Gracie's polar opposite; wild, crazy, and friends with everyone. Gracie was the mild mannered loner who was labeled as a huge liar, because she claimed to see things that weren't really there.

It was Hannah's idea to go into the toy store, although the sign clearly said _No Trespassing_. "Let's not take long in here," Gracie warned, "this place creeps me out."

Hannah rolled her eyes. "You big baby, _come on_!" She dragged Gracie, who had stopped to listen to some nonexistent noise, deeper into the toy store, through aisles and aisles of old Barbie dolls and matchbox cars. The floor was trashed with baby dolls, comic books, and… bones?

"Hannah," Gracie insisted, "we _have_ to get out of here." She pointed at the ground.

The blonde widened her eyes. "Are those b-bones?" she asked, kicking one with her converse clad foot. Gracie nodded solemnly, her brown eyes filled with fear. "Maybe you're right," Hannah said, turning on her heel. But it was too late.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a sickeningly high pitched voice came from behind them, "two children? Perfect" The last part was spoken an octave lower than the rest, but Gracie still understood perfectly. This woman was going to kill them. And their bones would litter the floor along with the rest of them.

Gracie and Hannah simultaneously turned around. A woman stood behind them, licking her lips with her long, thin, forked tongue. She would've been quite beautiful, if her lower body was not that of a snake. "H-huge s-snake," Hannah muttered.

Gracie looked at the woman quizzically. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice shaking.

It was Hannah's turn to look confused. "Snakes can't talk, Gracie. Just leave it alone and it'll go away."

_Not again, _Gracie thought. Hannah couldn't see her, nor would she believe Gracie when she told her. Hannah could only see a snake.

"Run," Gracie whispered, and they both broke out running the other way. She heard the woman cackle behind them, and she could hear the soft slithering noise of the woman catching up to them.

"Where are you off to, children?" she asked, "we haven't had time to play."

That was when Hannah fell, slipping on a one eyed baby doll that had been carelessly thrown on the floor.

She barely had time to scream before the woman had lunged for her, biting her with fang-like teeth, causing her to go unconscious, then wrapping around Hannah, suffocating the bleeding girl. "Go, Gracie," Hannah croaked, barely able to breathe. Gracie realized that she hadn't been moving, instead, she'd been paralyzed with fear.

She screamed as the snake woman finished Hannah off.

"Your turn," the woman said, coming towards Gracie, her beady black eyes locked on her and a demonic smirk gracing her lips. Gracie scanned the ground, looking for something of use. A small dagger caught her eye. She grabbed it and threw it, her eyes closed. When she opened them, the woman was gone.

She ran forward, grabbing the dagger and inspecting it. It was covered in gold glitter.

After that, everything had happened so fast. The couple next door had heard their screams and had called the police, who came in only to find Hannah dead and Gracie holding a dagger, sobbing hysterically.

"It was her," she whispered, her throat thick and dry.

"Who?" the cop asked, eyebrow raised.

She took a deep breath. "It was her, the snake woman."

And, of course, they didn't believe her.

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><p>AN: So now you've read. A review would be just lovely. CC would be great. Thanks!


	2. When You Can't Feel Anything At All

_There is a condition worse than blindness, and that is, seeing something that isn't there~_

Thomas Hardy

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><p>All Gracie wanted was her father to be proud of her.<p>

The first time in a year that her dad had come home from Iraq was to attend her trial. She had been convicted of murder, a murder that the snake woman had committed. She wished that Hannah could've been there, to convince them that it wasn't her, but if that were the case she wouldn't have been on trial in the first place.

"Daddy, I didn't do it," she whispered to her father as they walked down the hall, toward the crowded courtroom. He hadn't spoken a word to her since he'd been home. Tears filled her eyes, the eyes that matched her father's.

There was one distinct difference between their eyes, though. Hers were filled with fear and pain, while his were blank and emotionless.

She knew that she was hurting him, that her mental illness was his burden. He was too proud and well trained, though, to admit it or show any signs of pain or weakness. Being that way was in his job description. Many an hour had been spent ridding himself of emotions, and he wasn't about to show any then. What made him a powerful leader in the army had made him a terrible father; had turned him into a monster.

"Why won't you believe me?" Gracie managed to choke out. Her sound was barely audible, but her father's trained ears heard her perfectly.

He turned toward his daughter, making sure to leave a fair amount of space between us, as if Gracie's madness was contagious. "I don't know what to believe anymore. Every time I come home, I hear of more and more of your antics. It's finally gone too far. I cannot sympathize and baby you any more. You killed a person." He said each word slowly and precisely, as if she couldn't comprehend them at a normal pace.

Gracie fell to her knees, unable to see through the thick fog of her own tears. Her father kept walking, as if he hadn't noticed, leaving Gracie's mother to help her towards the courtroom.

Her mother had been so fragile since Gracie's hallucinations had gotten really bad. She prayed every night for the answer to come, for Gracie to be well. She wished on every star that her daughter would find friends and be happy, but to no avail.

Her prayers would never be answered; her wishes never granted. It wouldn't get any easier.

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><p>With one simple word, the crumbled remains of Gracie's life toppled onto her.<p>

_Guilty._

Sent to an asylum because of her 'mental illness'.

Yet she couldn't bring herself to shed a tear. She was numb, something that she'd never been before. She was numb from the pain of watching her only friend die right in front of her. Numb from seeing her father not defend her in front of the court. Numb from seeing her mother weeping. Numb from telling the truth, only to be called mad.

She was sick and tired of telling the truth. But in the back of her mind she wondered if she was the liar.

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><p>The smell of antiseptics and cleaning chemicals.<p>

The look of her bedroom walls, white and padded.

The sound of muttering, from the woman next door.

The taste of the dry and flavorless food, having to eat with her fingers.

The feeling of the cold, hard tile underneath her bare feet as she slipped out of her bed each morning.

For two years this was Gracie's past, present and future.

At a point, they didn't know what to do with her. She had become distant, barely even talking, let alone talking about monsters. She knew that it was best for everyone to pretend that she didn't see anything, no matter how much it pained her inside. No matter how much she wanted to scream. She couldn't show weakness, or she'd lose it completely. She'd be like one of them, just another crazy little girl.

There were certain people there, mostly children, who she guessed could see them too. The only difference was the fact that the monsters paid attention to them.

They'd writhe in pain and they'd scream out for help, but no one came. And with each person that she watched being ripped to ribbons, Gracie became more and more cold. She didn't call for the nurses, she just watched. After a while, it didn't affect her at all.

She stayed in her cold and desolate prison until a day in June, when her mother recieved a letter in the mail.

Death was the only thing constant in her life. Her best friend had died, and now her father had died in combat. It pained her to think it, but she didn't even care. Her father had been dead to her anyway.

She was alive, but she wasn't living. Breathing, but dead. Her heart was beating, but she felt nothing. She walked without a purpose to her movement.

But her mother missed her, and wanted Gracie back in her life. So she was taken to court yet again.

Through the trial, she wasn't listening for the most part, but a few words caught her attention, and swarmed in her head like bees in a hive.

_Murder. Insane. Monsters. Stupid. Just a child. Knife. Best friend. Father. Dead._

And when she entered her mother's home again and laid in her warm bed, she couldn't even bring herself to smile.

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><p>AN: Sorry, this chapter is really short. About a thousand words, I believe. And this was sort of just a filler chapter anyway; the real plot comes in the next chapter. There will probably only be one or two more chapters, though, if it works out how I want it to (and hopefully it won't take as long to write them).


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